Tickets: Season tickets may be purchased by phone at 303-492-8008, online at coloradoshakes.org or in person at the University Club on the University of Colorado-Boulder campus, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Individual tickets are $18-$59 for regular-season shows, $10-$30 for special events.

The very title of "I Hate Hamlet" is liable to sound like sacrilege to any serious theater fan long before they report to any performance of the comedy.

We're talking about William Shakespeare's magnum opus, after all. "Hamlet" is the tragedy that set the bar for drama in the Western world for centuries. It's a work that sums up all that good theater can be, a taut treatise on life, love, death and vengeance.

It's also not immune to a bit of good-natured ribbing, as the Colorado Shakespeare Festival's energetic production of Paul Rudnick's 1991 play proves with plenty of charm, earnestness and humor.

Director Timothy Orr, assistant director Roxxy Duda and a strong cast manage a tricky balancing act in this show, the only non-Shakespeare selection in this year's CSF lineup. The production pokes fun at Shakespeare's signature oeuvre, written sometime around 1600, even as it works to highlight its timelessness, beauty and importance.

That dual message comes through a comedy that can feel downright silly at times. The show revolves around aspiring actor Andrew Rally, played ably by Alex Esola. A transport to New York from Los Angeles, Rally faces an artistic and existential crisis. He has taken up residence in the musty apartment of long-dead theater legend John Barrymore after losing a high-paying gig playing a TV doctor. Rally's only prospect is a gig some actors would die for: playing the lead in the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of "Hamlet."

It's a role he isn't keen on playing, despite the protests of his girlfriend Deirdre, played with heartrending ardor by Jamie Ann Romero. A fellow actor, Deirdre sees the role as a pinnacle of the craft. Accepting the role represents the culmination of years of study in drama school; it means taking a place in history's most impressive ranks of thespians.

Rally must weigh these arguments against the common-sense approach of his agent, Gary (Steven Cole Hughes), who sees Shakespeare as antiquated and useless, the artistic equivalent of reciting "algebra on stage."

It takes the conviction, craft and cajoling of a dead man to guide Rally's ultimate decision. John Barrymore — played with vigor, humor and zeal by Denver Center Theatre Company mainstay Sam Gregory — returns to his former pad as a ghost to urge the young actor to accept a role that will forever change his approach to his craft.

That premise sets up some zany stretches that feel straight out of the kind of TV sitcom that the comedy ultimately ends up belittling. After an impromptu seance led by Rally's realtor Felicia (Martha Harmon Pardee), Barrymore appears and abides by some seemingly random rules. Some can see him, others cannot. He delivers pithy quips and convinces Rally to take the role through unconventional means such as impromptu sword fights. Barrymore reconnects briefly with a former flame, an aged actress named Lillian (Anne Sandoe). Barrymore also happily partakes in the alcoholic vices he loved so dearly during life.

The plot offers opportunities for all the familiar pot shots at Shakespearean pomp. Gags about tights, codpieces and clunky Elizabethan vocabulary abound before the playwright ultimately pays proper tribute to one of the greatest plays ever written.

The entire concept could easily fall into the realm of gimmick in the wrong hands. But the CSF's production balances the camp of the premise with a devoted attention to craft. In his role as Barrymore, Gregory is a lynchpin of the show. He brings the legendary actor to life with a due amount of bombast and bravado. Esola is a perfect foil in his more understated performance, and the rest of the cast keeps the comedy afloat. Romero is energetic and disarming as the idealistic Deirdre, and Hughes delivers some of the most memorable barbs about the most difficult work of the Bard of Avon. Caitlin Ayer's tasteful scenic design and Jason Banks' straightforward lighting schemes also help keep the action on track.

The final result is a charming and lighthearted show that pays tribute to all that's best about "Hamlet," even as it giggles over all that's most difficult about the show. It helps that the actors delivering the lines about the play's beauty and its challenges are the artists who spend summer after summer bringing the Bard's work to life in Boulder.

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